There are multiple posts on this topis already - do a search and you will find many people's suggestions.

Having been there recently, I can suggest without hesitation that you eat at Cordavi. Absoultely outstanding meal. FIG was very good, but not in their league.

The other spot I wanted to check out, and will hit on my next visit, is McRaddy's. Very cutting edge, micro-gastronomy cooking (though you have a lot of that in Chicago), and a GREAT wine list. All of these places have web sites with meuns, etc....

It's not immediately next to the mall, but 5 Season Brewery is about 10 minutes away, and is the best brew-pub in Atlanta. Great beers, and they have a strong focus on local, organic ingredients. Terrific grilled pizzas, and they always have 6-8 unique daily, seasonal specials. Worth the drive if the idea interests you.

Second night was FIG, which was good, but paled in comparison to Cordavi. Best dish was my starter of radiccio salad with shrimp and pancetta in a sherry vinagrette. Nice mix of saltly, tangy, and sweet from the shrimp. Very sucessful.

Alison had 2 starters - home made caviatelli with brocoli, and beef tartare. Both very good, straightforward presentations. I had titlefish with braised fennel, and we splint garlic sauteed local young greens. Again, solid and straightforward.

Jeff, GET TO CORDAVI!!!!!! Below is a post I made on another site about or dinner there last night. Great restaurant.

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Cordavi's last night. Fan-freaking-tastic.

Nice thing about their menu is that you can do 3, 4, or 5 course tastings by selecting from the menu, or choose a 10 course chef's tasting for $90, or just simply pick and chose from the menu. Both of us chose to do a selected tasting - Alison chose 3, I had 5.

A word about the wine list: Not great. We did find a nice Testarossa Pinot Noir from California which complimented the food well, but they could use a larger, more diverse list to compliment the quality of the food. Speaking of which. . .

After ordering we were presented with a complimentary amuse of a musroom, bacon, and cipolini onion puree with butter foam in a little shot glass. Great way to start, the essence of mushroom, beautifully accented by the other ingredients. Woodsy, rich, and perfectly sized.

Alison started with a simple house salad with asian pear vinegrette and gorgonzola. Great fresh ingredients, a well executed version of this salad. I started with the "deconstructed" beat salad, with ribons of red and gold beats, as well as apple, goat cheese jellies, and spiced pecans. Very nice, light, refreshing.

My second was probably the best dish of the night (though all of the dishes were outstanding): scallops two ways. On one side of the plate was a single, pristine scallop crusted in porcini powder and pan seared, while the other side containe scallop spaghetti (pureed scallops mixed with egg whites then cooked). Both presentation were sauced with butter foam, edemame, and wild muchrooms (real wild mushrooms, not the standard shitake, portabello mix). Mind blowingly good. The flavors married so well together, and the contrast of flavors between the clean, sweet seared scallop and the slightly salty, al-dante spaghetti was great. I could have eaten a TON of this.

Alison got her main next, while I got both a fish and meat main. She had an amazingly tender truffle infused tenderloin with potato hash (more truffle oil here), sauted asparagus, asparagus linguine (ribbons of asparagus cooked like pasta) and foillandasie sauce (hollandasie accented with foie). One of the best peices of meat ever. Cut with a fork tender, flavorful, and cooked perfectly to order. The sides were great - she even finished the veggies but not the meat (too big).

My first "main" was a perfect pan-seared black grouper with truffled corn and chantrelles. Nice crisp seareing, moist inside, and served over some slightly sweet grits. The mushrooms were perfect, tender but still with a bite. Great dish.

My second "main" was moullard duck breast with tomato confit, foie gras, and honshemenji mushrooms. Again, no complaints. Great meaty dish, the foie was perfect, this dish was made for the wine we drank. No way I could finish it. It was HUGE.

We then got another complimentary course - an intermezzo of sweet corn ice cream with home-made caramel sauce. Just delicous. Not too sweet, just a bite size of pure corn flavor - sort of a riff on frozen caramel corn.

Believe it or not, we still had deserts coming. I went with their version of "apple pie": glazed diced apples with a crumbled shortbread crust and homemade caramel ice cream. This too was deconstructed, with the ice cream in the middle of the bowl surrounded by the other compontents. Fantastic. Again, not too sweet, with clean flavors that married beautifully. Alison had the "peanut butter cup" which is Yoohoo chocolate custard, peanut butter ice cream, with a chocolate crust. This is probably her dream desert combo, and it was executed flawlessly.

At $190.00 before tip (including our bottle of wine), this place is a BARGAIN. We were presented with 2 free course, and the food was perfectly cooked, and the ingredients were flawless. The servings were very large, especially for a tasting menu. You will not leave hungry.

As you can probably tell, I was very impresed with Cordavi. The chef's balance a playful sense of presentation with a serious attention to quality. These are seriously talented chefs who clearly enjoy what they do. Great spot - I wish it was in Atlanta.

There's a Sherlock's in Decatur as well. Not bad selection, but I really think the variety at Wine Gallery makes it worth the visit. They have a number of very good producers that I have not seen anywhere else in Atlanta.

In-town, my favorite is Wine Gallery and Market on Sidney Marcus and Piedmont. Great selection accross all proce points, with a very knowledgable staff. Not sure where you are visiting from. but expect high wine prices in Atlanta. Georgia wine laws are not much fun.

We'll be taking a 2 day escape-from-the-4-year-old to Charleston next month, and I was hoping to get some feedback on McCrady's. The menu looks stellar, and I understand the recently added chef is quite talented. Any experiences? Where is "the place to eat" in Charleston?